


easy come, never go

by restless5oul



Series: yesterday we were just children [11]
Category: Formula 1 RPF, GP2 Series RPF, Motorsport RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Awkward Romance, Dorks in Love, Fluff, Heart-to-Heart, Light-Hearted, Love Confessions, M/M, Second first kiss, a break from the angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-09
Updated: 2017-09-09
Packaged: 2018-12-25 16:00:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12039330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/restless5oul/pseuds/restless5oul
Summary: maybe neither of them are very good at talking about their feelings, but it hardly matters.





	easy come, never go

**Author's Note:**

> we interrupt your regular programme of shitty angst to bring you a lighter turn of events.

Charles had meant to talk to Mick as soon as he got the chance. He had all the best intentions in the world to do that. But life and everything else just got in the way.

First, they had to find Juan and Jüri to tell them what Mick had just found out and what had happened. Of course they were pleased for their friend, just as much as Charles had been. Even managing to pull Mick into a crushing group hug, which was somewhat impressive considering that Jüri was still bed bound. But the next time Charles had gone to see Jüri – during one of the rare breaks he got – Juan was already there. Sat on a chair beside the bed, his head cradled in his hands, resting against his knees, one of Jüri’s hands on his back. When he had approached and Juan had looked up, the unmistakable sight of ill concealed tear tracks running down his cheeks, Charles knew exactly what he was thinking about. It felt impossible, but as pleased as he, and Juan, were for Mick, it brought the painful reminder of what they had lost and he had gained. An unwelcome thought that it took Charles days to shake. He was just lucky he had Pierre. Juan didn’t have that. 

“Are you alright?” he had asked, a slightly stupid question given that the answer was plain to see. Juan had nodded while Jüri had shook his head.

Then there was the fact that now Charles was on his feet again. He had to pull his weight just like everyone else in the camp. Whilst Mick and Juan had been sent to join the guard, training under and working alongside Pierre, Charles was sent to work with Stoffel. He had been told that his stint in the hospital exempted him from the more physical work – even though that was where the most help was needed, after a sudden upturn in the number of attacks – though he strongly suspected that Pierre had something to do with his assignment.

Not that his work was easy by any means. It was long days spent in near darkness without scarcely a clue what he was doing, trying to follow Stoffel and Maxi’s instructions as best he could. Once upon a time he might have had grand plans which would have involved him currently understanding what he was doing. But the single year of his physics degree didn’t seem to be helping him much. That didn’t mean that there was ever a shortage of things for him to be getting on with.

It meant that by the time he collapsed into bed in the tent, that was used by Charles alone until Jüri was discharged, it was far too late and he was far too tired to sneak into the tent next to his to see if Mick wanted to talk. Besides, he was fairly certain he would have been just as exhausted.

Perhaps a little part of Charles looked for excuses. It wasn’t as though he hated what had happened, or he regretted it. And if he was being totally honest, he hadn’t been entirely surprised when it had happened, like he had known, subconsciously, that really he had wanted it all along. But he was never sure what to think when it seemed that Mick never gave it any thought, acting almost as if it never happened, treating Charles just as he had always done.

Not that there was anything wrong with that. It just felt a little disappointing when Charles was struck by the memory of Mick’s hand running down his torso and his hot breath on his mouth at the most inconvenient moments; just as he was trying to get to sleep, or when he was trying to listen to Pierre telling him about his day. Even if he stared at Mick for far longer than was appropriate, he never got the sense that it was like that for him as well.

He supposed he was just lucky that it wasn’t that he had been thinking of when he was jolted awake by a sharp prick on the back of his shoulder. 

“Ouch,” he muttered, his words slurred with sleep as he reached over to rub his shoulder, lifting his face from the work bench, feeling the imprint of the uneven woodwork on his cheek.

“Feeling alright Sleeping Beauty?” he heard Stoffel ask as he pulled up a seat, placing two mugs on the table next to Charles, who was busy trying to rub the sleep from his eyes. The clock on the wall told him that it was past ten at night, and he had been up with the sun that morning, so no wonder he had fallen asleep.

“Fantastic,” he mumbled, wrapping his hands around the warm mug, smiling softly at the sensation.

“Maybe you should head back,” Stoffel suggested, taking a sip from his own cup, Charles copied him, the tea soothing his empty stomach and clearing his sleep addled mind somewhat. It was almost as welcome as the gesture itself. The new feeling of someone taking care of him was something he thought he could get used to. When he looked at Stoffel and saw him smiling down at him, the fondness in his face reminded him so much of Pierre that at times it felt like he had two older brothers.

“No, no, I should finish this first,” Charles shook his head, pulling the piece of paper towards him that he had been scribbling illegibly on before he had drifted to sleep.

“Charles it can wait,” Stoffel said, his voice a little firmer this time as he placed his hand on top of Charles’ forcing his gaze away from the rows of numbers and symbols.

“Are you sure?” no matter how much he tried to bulldoze his way through in a day, there always seemed to be one more task left for him to do, that he never quite seemed to get to. The real engineers, who worked on things that even Stoffel didn’t seem to understand, never failed to remind them of just how much work they had to get done.

“Yeah. Plus, I sent Maxi home about an hour ago. Mainly because Callum was hanging around outside, and he was getting on my nerves,” Stoffel laughed.

“Is something going on between the two of them?” Charles asked, trying and failing not to sound nosey. He didn’t know either of them awfully well, but he did notice the significant looks they seemed to send the other’s way, though he had never actually seen anything that indicated they were more than friends.

“Not a clue,” Stoffel paused for just a beat, like he was thinking, “I could ask the same thing about you and Mick.”

Charles was so shocked that he inhaled about half of his tea through his nose, making him cough and splutter, as his eyes watered. It would have been an understatement to say that he was caught off guard. But given Mick had been who was on his mind for most of the past week, it made him feel like his brother’s boyfriend had a sixth sense.

“Thanks,” he coughed weakly, as Stoffel slapped him on the back.

“Wrong question?” Stoffel asked once Charles had recovered, looking a little guilty for having nearly killed him. Or at least that was how it felt when Charles’ throat was burning.

“No, no,” Charles shook his head rapidly, “I just mean…”

“I’m sorry I just thought it was like, a thing,” Stoffel made air quotes with his free hand, the emphasis on the word _thing_ , both of them talking over the other in their attempt to apologise.

“Ah, no, not really,” Charles grimaced, taking a lengthy sip from his cup, though there wasn’t actually much tea left to drink.

“But in the tent the other day?”

Charles couldn’t hide the blush from his cheeks, as much as he might have tried, it was in vain. Though Stoffel hadn’t exactly stuck around, he had certainly seen enough.

“Yeah I-…uh,” he wasn’t exactly sure what to say, he couldn’t even really explain it. Though a thought occurred to him, “You didn’t tell Pierre did you?

“No I didn’t,” Stoffel chuckled, “I figured he either already knew, or you’d tell him at some point.”

“Yeah not exactly,” Charles rubbed the back of his neck, “It’s sort of complicated.”

Stoffel raised his eyebrow, as if to say _go on,_ but Charles wasn’t entirely sure what he should say, and whether he should say anything at all. But Stoffel was so nice, and he was dying to talk about it.

“We’ve not actually talked about it; we’ve just been sort of busy. And it never seems to be the right time to walk up to Mick and ask him ‘hey could we please talk about that one time we made out?’ It’s not exactly a great way to start a conversation,” Charles spoke quickly, and directed his eye contact towards the mug in his eyes, willing the fierce blush to disappear from his cheeks.

“And that was the first time you kissed?” Stoffel guessed, and Charles wished he didn’t look so endeared by the whole thing. Talking to Stoff was a damn sight better than asking Pierre for advice, but it was still sort of humiliating.

“Yeah. So I don’t know if he just meant it as a casual sort of thing, and something…else,” Charles shrugged.

“What about you?”

“What about me?”

“How did you mean it?”

“Well, he was the one who kissed me so…” Charles deliberately avoided the real question he knew Stoffel was asking.

“That’s not what I meant,” Stoffel rolled his eyes a little, “How do you feel about it?”

Charles took a deep breath, rubbing his lips together as he exhaled through his nose, trying to formulate the words to explain the tumultuous mess going on in his head and in his heart.

“I wouldn’t hate him if he just meant it casually. B-but it wasn’t like that for me. I didn’t really know that before then, but now I do. I mean, he’s just…he’s not, like-…and I guess I like him. A lot,” Charles finished lamely, aware he was making absolutely no sense but figuring that he had got his point across.

“Sounds like you need to talk to him,” Stoffel said, but Charles already knew that.

“Yeah I know,” Charles sighed, dropping his shoulders, unsure of where he would get the time or the courage to do that.

“He finishes at half ten tonight if you want to catch him before you head back.”

 “How do you know that?”

“He’s on the same rotation as Pear.”

“Oh.”

Charles drained the last of the tea from his mug and placed it down with every intention to leave before he lost the little bit of bravery he did have. Before he made excuses about how late it was, and how early he had to be up.

“What if he doesn’t feel the same way?” Charles hovered, somewhere in between standing and sitting, biting his lip, the anxious thought hitting him suddenly.

“Then that’s life, but it’s better to know than to torture yourself over what might be,” Stoffel stood up too and started to shepherd Charles towards the exit, “But between you and me, you don’t kiss someone the way he did if you don’t feel anything for them.”

Charles blushed at that again, but he thanked Stoffel nevertheless, and tried desperately not to overthink what he was doing as he headed towards where his and Mick’s tents were, intending on waiting there until Mick got back. He still hadn’t got a handle on himself when Mick appeared from the dark shadows, yawning into the back of his hand, looking as tired as Charles felt. He was still sporting his standard issue green shirt and trousers, but he had lost the gun and backpack that he was required to carry when he was on duty. He seemed surprised to see Charles as he stood up from the patch of grass he had set up camp on. It was probably a little too cold to be sat outside in only his jumper, but once he had planted himself there he didn’t dare move in case he chickened out.

“What are you doing here?” he asked smiling.

“I wanted to talk to you,” the surprise on Mick’s face deepened, as Charles motioned towards his tent, which did not contain a sleeping Juan, leading his friend inside. He didn’t look back at Mick until he sat down, trying not to think about his heart that was beating impossibly hard, or the way Mick’s eyes reflected the half light from the small lamp on the far side of the tent, making them look brighter than usual.

“So, uh, what did you want to talk about?” Mick asked, looking ten times more nervous than he had two minutes ago, as he took a seat next to Charles on the spare camp bed. There was no backing out now. He tried to think back to what Stoffel had said, and he was sure that Mick’s nerves had to mean something.

“About the other night when we, uh…” he started, but his voice trailed off halfway through, like he had lost the ability to speak.

“When we kissed?” Mick finished for him, and there was such a look of dread in his eyes that Charles wanted to say something, but he didn’t get the chance, “Because I know that was very… _wrong_ of me to do that without asking, but I wasn’t thinking right. A-and I know you probably only did it because I was upset and you felt bad for me. I should apologise I know-…”

“No you shouldn’t, not at all,” Charles interrupted Mick quickly, trying to stop him from getting away from himself, “It wasn’t wrong at all. It didn’t feel wrong at all. In fact, you are one of the only things that feels right recently.”

Mick blinked at him rapidly, and Charles shook his head, realising that what he’d just said didn’t exactly make sense, and hadn’t come out at all the way he’d planned. He began to wish that he’d written something down as a prompt before he’d started this conversation. But maybe it was more genuine to do it off the cuff. Even if he was starting to sound like a rambling idiot.

“What I mean is, kissing you didn’t feel wrong. But not just that, it’s more to do with _you_ , not just like, kissing you. You’re one of the best things to happen to me, not just in these past few months, but ever. Ah God, that sounds so cheesy. But what I’m trying to say is that I really like you. Not just as a friend or-.”

He was saved from the embarrassing himself even more by Mick, who kissed him so the words promptly died in his mouth, and all he could think about was how relieved, and how pleased he was that Mick didn’t hate him. And if the gentle way he pressed their lips together, and the way he curled one hand around the back of his neck was anything to go by, then he might just have felt the same way too. When Mick pulled away Charles felt the hot blush return, but he couldn’t hide the goofy grin that covered his face.

“You have to stop doing that without warning me,” he said, trying to not sound as out of breath as he felt, but it was near impossible when Mick’s thumb was stroking the nape of his neck, and their faces were just inches apart.

“You were taking too long to get to the point,” Mick shrugged, and Charles saw that his own cheeks were pink, and he was looking a little shy about what he had just done. But Charles didn’t think there was any reason for that.

“You made yours a lot quicker,” Charles laughed, and the responding smile from Mick told him that he definitely reciprocated his feelings.

“Maybe you should have tried it?” Mick suggested, and there was a spark in his eye that Charles only saw on occasion, though it had shown itself more often in the past week. If only the news that his family were still alive had brought that back, and Charles' confession had done that too, then he didn't think he could describe how that made him feel. Whatever the emotion was, it felt a lot like static surging through his veins into his heart.

“Maybe I should,” Charles agreed, taking it as an invitation to lean in again, still letting Mick take the lead, but not able to resist running his fingers through Mick’s soft hair, something he had done hundreds of times before, but which felt entirely different this time.

In a moment that inspired a little déjà vu inside him, he let Mick push him against the bed, trying not to smirk as he felt him move so his legs were either side of Charles’ hips, straddling him, and leaning down so that their bodies were pushed together fully. If he’d been able to, Charles would have pinched himself just to make sure that he wasn’t dreaming, but he was too preoccupied with experimentally running his hand down Mick’s back and below the waistline of his trousers. Mick responded by bucking his hips against Charles’, making it very difficult for him to bite back the groan that desperately wanted to escape from his lips.

It was only when Mick moved to kiss Charles’ jaw and he couldn’t suppress a long yawn from his free mouth, that the German pulled away.

“Maybe you should get some sleep,” he laughed lightly, pressing his kiss to the tip of Charles’ nose.

“Only if you stay,” Charles said immediately, the kiss and recent confessions making him feel more confident, but he still cringed at his own boldness, worried perhaps that he was being too presumptuous. 

“Sure,” Mick just shrugged, folding his arms against Charles’ chest, resting his head on them, his smaller body just about fitting on top of his, even if he had to swing his legs to one side. It was certainly the easiest way to get the single bed to accommodate the both of them. It was surprisingly easy for the two of them to drift off, once they had pulled the thin sheet over their bodies.

But when they woke, Mick prompted by an exclamation from the doorway of the tent, and Charles because Mick had hit him in the face when he was startled awake, he did find that he had lost the feeling in the left hand side of his body. Charles tried to twist without pushing Mick off the bed, and saw that it was Juan who had woken them both up with his shouting.

“Aw come on, you guys just cost me ten pounds! Couldn’t you have got your shit together a week ago!”


End file.
